McCord's parting shot for Tigers

JOHN McCORD flew back to the United States last Friday, insisting that he was not to blame for bad feeling among the squad this season.

Tigers' top scorer is furious that some fans regard him as responsible for centre Chandar Bingham's sudden mid-season departure.

McCord claims that the confusion is down to Tigers' assistant coach, saying: "Mike Hayles is going around telling people that we ran Chandar out of town. I do not think that is right."

The 6ft 6ins forward, linked with a move to arch rivals London Towers, declined to rule out joining the Basketball League Southern Conference winners, saying: "Maybe. They are a top-notch club. But at the moment it is just a rumour. I have not spoken to Rick Taylor or anybody at the Towers about a move."

He added: "Everybody wants to talk about loyalty and family and yet when we started losing a lot of people forgot about those things."

McCord also jumped to the defence of team-mate Tony Christie, who looks set to follow him out of the club.

He said: "Tony played most of the season with an injured shoulder and was always the player to step up when I was out. He was the club's second top scorer, averaging 21 points per game and yet people were still talking bad about him. He did not get the credit he deserved."